


the darkest day of winter

by pidgeandcat



Series: cat zkdd 2020 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adobe Flash Player, Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack, F/M, New Years Eve, Zutara, Zutara Drabble December 2020, and dont you try to tell me different, btw this is set on december 31st 2020, god i cant believe i just tagged that, heavy hearts, ngl yeah, ponytail katara, thats important enough for a tag i think, zkdd, zuko plays girls go games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27865253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pidgeandcat/pseuds/pidgeandcat
Summary: “Katara, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that-” he paused to slap a hand over his mouth and suppress tears- “That adobe flash player has been t-taken away from us.”
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: cat zkdd 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036110
Comments: 15
Kudos: 43
Collections: ZK Drabble December 2020





	the darkest day of winter

**Author's Note:**

> hello again guys!! for zkdd day three, "heavy hearts" i wanted to see if i could make it fluffy, and it turned out kind of cracky but i hope it at least makes you laugh! shout out to jo for helping me come up with the idea :)) thanks for reading and enjoy!

The air temperature was running lower than Katara’s patience, which was to say, pretty low.

She was slumped in her bed bundled in three blankets, balancing her laptop on her chest and suffering through yet another online class. Why she was being forced into class on New Year’s Eve, she didn’t know, and yet here she was. It seemed as if just because the schools had discovered the remote option, they decided it was okay to overwork them as long as they were home. Katara didn’t like it, and she had been in a constant state of raging about it since March.

The view outside of her apartment window was blindingly white, with snow sticking to cars and trees and anything it could get its hands on. She’d returned home for the winter, uneager to remain on her college’s campus alone, and instead electing to attend all her classes through zoom. In hindsight, this wasn’t a great choice; but as she remembered the person sleeping through his own online classes in the adjacent room, she noted that there were _some_ advantages to being remote, if only just one. 

She drowsily focused her attention back on the video call. Their teacher was having some kind of issue, and she rolled her eyes. There were _always_ issues. _It’s not like this has been going on for months or anything,_ she thought snarkily. 

When they finally figured out how to share their screen after some half-polite instruction from a student, there were only more problems to be found on the other side. They were supposed to be playing an educational game, something about history, but the website was down. After a bit of digging, Katara discovered that it was apparently the day of a big internet purge; adobe flash was being made unavailable today. She sighed and relayed this information to the teacher, who somehow found something else to struggle with for the next fifteen minutes of class. She had never been happier to slam her computer shut when the time ran out.

Katara closed her eyes for a moment before staggering out of her bed and towards the mirror, dragging a hairbrush through her matted waves. Just as she was tying it up into a ponytail, she heard a loud sobbing noise coming from the kitchen. Expecting the worst, she raced into the room, but there was no apparent problem to be found. The only thing she _did_ find was Zuko doubled over in front of his computer, clutching his head and murmuring, “No. No. No. I can’t believe this. No...”

“Uh... What happened?” she asked skeptically, trying to get a good look at his dark computer screen. 

He looked up at her with watery eyes. “Katara, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that-” he paused to slap a hand over his mouth and suppress tears- “That adobe flash player has been t-taken away from us.”

Katara raised an eyebrow. “I genuinely cannot tell if you are joking or not. Why is this such a tragedy for you?”

“Did you know?”

“I mean, yeah-”

“You _knew!?_ And you didn’t warn me?” he rasped with a stricken expression, and she shrugged. 

“Hey, I only found out this morning. What are you trying to do with flash player anyway?”

“Oh Katara. Don’t you realize?” Zuko said, turning his screen towards her to reveal the website GirlsGoGames.com, and Katara couldn’t resist busting out into laughter. 

“Pfffbt, you like to play dress up games?” she snickered, and he huffed. 

“Well, I don’t play _those._ Look!” 

She followed his pointer finger to the game title, and she felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She looked at him incredulously, and he nodded. 

“I know.”

“Not-”

“I know.”

“You’re right. This is truly a dark day for all of us,” she sobbed, sinking into the chair opposite him and grabbing his hand. 

“Why would they do this to us on New Years Eve?” he asked tearfully, and she shook her head.

“That, I don’t know. Come on, let’s go get hot chocolate and cry.” 

And so they exited their apartment with tear stained faces, hand in hand, on their way to find even a small sliver of comfort on this terrible day. Sitting on the table still was the source of their grief, that wretched MacBook Air and its horrifying announcement about the demise of adobe flash player. But the kicker? The kicker was the game that was now rendered useless. A thing of the past. An ancient relic. 

Fireboy and Watergirl. 

  
  
  



End file.
